BIO – DATA Aranyakumar is a talented young sitarist from Karnataka, India. His grandfather was a violinist and the whole maternal family, in Italy, has been a family of musicians and music lovers for generations. Perhaps this could explain why Aranya learned to play a wide variety of instruments with great skill and agility by the age of six. Amongst these are the harmonium, tabla, flute and esraj. Fascinated by the divine sound of the sitar, Aranya started learning under the guidance of Ustad Hameed Khan of the Indore beenkar gharana (tradition). After developing a deep knowledge of the beenkar style, he received taalim (training) under the late Pt. Sudhir Phadke, the noted disciple of Smt. Annapurnadevi, a living legend of Maihar gharana.Presently, he is receiving guidance from Smt. Sandhya Apte and learning under the tutelage of well known sarod maestro of maihar gharana Pt. Rajeev Taranath. Aranya's style of playing is quite clean. It mixes heart touching alaap with the depth and discipline of dhrupad style. The balance of mizrab (striker) and left hand manifests the beauty of khayal. His style shows a complete mastery of the various types of gamak, krintan and layakari, which are the specialties of Maihar gharana. Aranya's expertise of the sitar along with his profound knowledge of instrumental music theory and history has brought him to become a guest lecturer at the Karnatak University of Dharwad, where he has been teaching sitar since 2003. In 2006 Prasar Bharati produced a documentary focusing of Aranya's musical journey, Bandish, for the national channel of Indian Television DD1. Aranya is a ‘B-High’ grade dilruba and sitar artist of All India Radio(AIR) Dharwad. Qualification in Music : Aranya has completed his Bachelor's degree in music with specialization in tabla and a Master’s degree in music at the Karnatak University Dharwad, with specialization in sitar, which won him a gold medal for the year 2002-03. Awards and Achievements : National award from ministry of sports & youth (2004), Hydrabad. Gold medal from governor of Karnataka (2003), Dharwad. Thamankar award by Thamankar music foundation (2002), Hubli. Winner of national scholarship for young artists (2002), New Delhi. Lineage : Ustad Hameed Khan of Indore beenkar gharana Pt. Sudhir Phadke of Maihar gharana. Performance : Aranya has performed in New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kolhapur, Goa, Dharwad, Belgaum, amongst many other localities within India. He has performed in various prestigious music festivals like Dharwad utsav, Lakkundi utsav, Kittur utsav, Karnataka state folklore festival etc, his concerts widely appreciated by noted musicians as well audience. In October 2009 he has traveled to his mother’s country, Italy, and performed in various cities as a guest in Music Festivals, Music schools and Universities. Experiments : Aranya is also well trained in other instruments like esraj and dilruba. He has done experiments as multi-instrumentalist in fusion music. Working Experience : Teaching Instruments like sitar, dilruba, harmonium, flute and tabla in the method of ‘Guruparampara’ since 2000. Guest lecturer (sitar) in the dept. of music (post graduate) at Karnatak University Dharwad, since 2003. Aranya also conducting music classes named ‘Bhairavi School of Music’ since 2006, where he is giving traditional training of various instruments. Permanent address: Address for correspondence: M. Aranyakumar c/o S.R.Hebsur Po : Gajaminal 6th cross Tq : Bailhongal Kalyan Nagar Dist : Belgaum Dharwad Karnataka-India Karnataka-India Pin-591121 Pin- 580007 Ph : 08288 – 272166 Ph: 0836- 2741624 Mobile : 9611521311,9632012315, 9964077736 e-mail : [email protected]..